Monthly Archives: January 2014

“Oh, Mother! Don’t you wish you were a teenager!!?” “No, I don’t, honey.” Background: Author Jill Renich is the granddaughter of famed 19th century evangelist Reuben Archer Torrey, and she was born and raised by missionary parents in China. That … Continue reading →

Should delivering papers and playing tennis be for boys only? Background: Author Betty Miles got her start as an editor of the Bank Street Readers, the long-running series of textbooks that was the first to depict racially diverse characters and … Continue reading →

Well, that’s a headline you’re not going to see on any of WD’s contemporary covers. I was kind of hoping that said diet would include some of those groovy earth-tone cookies. Also the ones at the top and left of … Continue reading →

Maggies’s little sister was the first to disappear. Would Maggie be next? Background: Ann M. Martin got her start as an editor and house writer for Scholastic (one of her first published titles was for Scholastic’s Wildfire YA romance imprint); … Continue reading →

Background: This week’s book is one of those titles that attracted both controversy and acclaim in its time, and has since largely vanished from the public’s consciousness. I first heard of it (along with the similarly tantalizingly-titled Too Bad About … Continue reading →